Spotlight: First Aid: Part 2 (Buzzkill)
2k5 - Tuesday, February 26, 2013, 7:58 PM ----------------------------------------- Graveyard What first seems like piles and piles and piles of more debris becomes, on closer examination, dead turbo-rats, foxes, wolves, plus many that haven't been seen on Cybertron for millennia: fierce turbo-hawks, insatiable turbo-shrews, even a goodly number of Transorganics. All these creatures are long dead, their still bodies silent testimony to slow starvation. Why they came here to die is unknown. Perhaps, like lemmings, they all suddenly decided to commit mass suicide. Surprisingly few of the bodies have been disturbed by living predators; most still lie untouched as they have for ages, their darkened optics still glinting with reflected sunlight. Contents: Robotic Honey Bee <'Buzzkill'> Obvious exits: Fly leads to Sky above Graveyard. East leads to Ruined Estates. West leads to Petrified Forest. First Aid leans back against the pile of broken metal and shredded metal, favouring his injured right leg. Laying just to his side is an unconscious blue minibot with big tires on his shoulders and knees. There's orange debris, some of it still flaming, stretching well over a mile back. The Protectobot grabs up his datapad and logs in, filing a new report. Medical Officer's log, shuttle Honesty: It's been about an hour since our ship crashed in the Graveyard. Most of the shuttle broke apart either from Fusillade's bombs or upon impact with the ground. As far as I can tell, everyone in the hold were killed instantly. Deft, Ace, and I were in the cockpit and were thrown clear, but Ace died shortly I recovered her and Deft's laser core keeps flickering on and off. He's also sustained bad damage to his chassis. My own injuries are less severe. My right leg servos are misaligned now and my transformation cog isn't working for some reason. I went back to grab the medical equipment from the shuttle but there's nothing left of the rear section. I have my personal medkit but it isn't meant for long term care. I've tried raising Autobot Command but the Decepticon jamming field is still in effect. There's supposed to be a small semi-permanent settlement of Empties about four miles northeast of here. I might be able to get supplies. With any luck they might even have a transmitter that can cut through the interference. First Aid stops and looks around. The pile of metal he's leaning against is full of dead turbo-rats, foxes, and other creatures in varying degrees of rusting away. P.S. On a personal note, I hate this place. I hope Cybertron's revitalization eventually turns it into something nice. It hasn't been long since Buzzkill caught wind of what happened at the graveyard, Fusillade keen on telling everyone of her recent exploits. Having heard that a specific Protectobot was on board was more than enough to prompt the Insecticon to check out the scene for herself to confirm his death, plunder his corpse and the wreckege, or a little of both. Probably a little of both. Actually, definitely a little of both. What sort of things could the Autobot's corpse give her? Medical technology, maybe an arm or a leg to chew on. Maybe she could rip off his head and throw it at Blades next time she saw him, that would be pretty awesome. And so the honey bee comes upon the graveyard, landing upon the rusting bodies of robotic animals in her alternate mode before transforming and standing tall (well as tall as a short bee can stand) in her robot mode. "What a waste of space," she grumbles, crushing the skull of a turbowolf under her heel. "We really should clear this area and build something more useful in it's place." Realizing she's just talking to herself, Buzzkill scowls and begins walking through the graveyard, attention caught by the still smoldering remains of the Autobot ship. Buzzkill transforms into her robot mode. First Aid turns the datapad off and slides it into his medkit. There's a lot more room now since he already had to use all the energon boost additives on Deft. Looking over at his fallen comrade, First Aid is grateful the patient is a minibot and not full sized. Even in ambulance mode carting home larger mechs gives him trouble. "Maybe I can see if Torque can do something about my arm hydraulics when I get back to base," he tells Deft. Deft doesn't reply, which is disappointing. Over the past hour he kept slipping in and out of consciousness, but it's been nothing for the past fifteen minutes. Standing up, First Aid feels a twinge in his leg. Looking down at it, he tries moving it back and forth. Not bad, he thinks. The patchwork repairs should hold so long as it takes it easy. Before he can reach down to hoist Deft up onto his shoulder, First Aid suddenly hears a buzzing. The sound itself wouldn't be terrifying if First Aid hadn't instantly recognized it. He creeps along behind the pile of corpses he was leaning against, peaking out in time to see and hear the Insecticon talking to herself before wandering off. Buzzkill? Here? Aid doesn't make the connection that she could be here for him specifically--he didn't think Fusillade spotted any survivors. It's clear she's just interested in the wreckage of the shuttle. Hmph, good luck finding anything of use with it strewn half way from here to the Petrified forest. For a brief moment he's confident that Buzzkill will find nothing of use and then buzz off, but then he remembers how he searched through the wreckage, neatly categorizing anything that survived the crash into tidy piles before taking what he needed. It's going to be obvious that there was at least crash survivor that's no longer here. Buzzkill moves her way through the graveyard, stomping and destroying the 'skeletons' she comes across with little to no concern about things like 'honoring the dead' and such nonsense. Besides, they're just animals! Who cares about animals? She passes by chunks of what appear to be shuttle if the tinges of orange still left upon them are anything to go by but nothing she sees appears to be of any use. So damaged are the remains that she wouldn't even consider them suitable for eating. As she surveys the area it becomes apparent by the neatly stacked piles of debris that something, or rather someone, has been here. At first she considers maybe a scavenger has been through but she sincerely doubts someone like that would've gone through the trouble of organizing everything like this. You know who would do something like that? Someone like First Aid, which is more than enough convincing she needs to believe that he's still around somewhere. "I know you're here, Protectobot scum!" Buzzkill shouts, pulling her pistol from it's maglocked place on her hip. "You can't hide among the dead forever! Show yourself immediately and perhaps I will give you the satisfaction of a quick death!" That's a lie, of course. After First Aid cut her stinger off at the Olympics, she promised herself to make his death as excruciating as possible. First Aid watches from his hiding spot as Buzzkill desecrates the dead. It's actually hard to think of the wreckage here as ever having been alive. Most of the corpses are in such terrible condition that they're almost indistinguishable from standard machinery. Regardless, First Aid isn't even thinking about the animals. He's thinking about the supplies he gathered up and praying Buzzkill doesn't spot them. Come on, you Insecticon sociopath. Realize there's nothing of value here and get out of here. But no, it's not that easy, and First Aid's optics dim as he sees Buzzkill lay eyes on the piles. Her grabbing her gun and shouting threats wouldn't be surprising either if it weren't for the content of the threats. The medic immediately breaks into as quiet a run/limp as he can, racing back towards Deft's position. He's trying to be quiet, but there's so much crap laying around that it's impossible not to stumble over a wolf-cycle's hubcap or mechanical spine or God knows what else. Reaching Deft, he immediately hoists him up onto his shoulder. The minibot looks at him groggily but First Aid just hisses, "We have to go. Now." She said 'Protectobot'. How in the blazes did she know I was here? Did I leave some other clue behind? First Aid hates to think it, but he has absolutely no idea what Buzzkill's tracking abilities consist of. To be perfectly honest, Buzzkill has no idea if it's actually First Aid sneaking around here or some other Autobot, she's just reaaaalllllyyy hoping it is. Who else would take the time to carefully categorize a bunch of debris like that anyway? It's such an obsessive compulsive type of behavior that she assumes all medics share because Primus knows she does crap like that all the time. Seriously, if you look at her desk you'd see that she has everything put together in a very specific order.. until someone (Scorn) comes along and messes it up on purpose. As for her tracking skills, well, she's not exactly the best. Certainly not on the same level as a Sweep or Ravage but she's smart enough to recognize the signs of activity, like the occasional sound of metal shifting around, as if someone was moving through the piles of corpses that litter the entire graveyard. She readies her pistol, pulling the slide back and locking a round into the chamber. "Just come out already. I know you're here, I can /smell/ your fear.." Can she really? Probably not but it sounds scary, doesn't it? She treks quietly now through the graveyard, trying to hone in on the sounds she believes are being made by the Protectobot, when she comes upon the pile of supplies First Aid has gathered up. She begins to rifle through it, taking what she deems useful for herself and putting them aside. What she doesn't take is quickly destroyed, the honey bee throwing supplies onto the ground and smashing them with her foot or just straight up shooting it. First Aid would understand Buzzkill's desire for organization and tidyness. He would even understand how frustrating it is when your factionmates come by to mess everything up, seemingly for their own amusement. First Aid and Buzzkill would have a lot in common were one of them not a murderous psychopath. The medic stumbles awkwardly away from where Buzzkill is destroying the supplies. This would be doable with either Deft or the misaligned leg, but not with both. "Wha...t?" Deft mumbles, sensing the sudden motion as he's carried along, but First Aid quickly shushes him up. Despite the Protectobot's best efforts, there's a soft scritching with each step that he takes. It isn't much, but the Graveyard is otherwise deathly silent, and so any sound carries. Glancing over his shoulder as Buzzkill continues to try and goad him out of his hiding spot, First Aid tries to make sure there's always a pile of corpses between him and the Insecticon. He's fought her before on numerous occasions, but the only time he fought her one-on-one did not end well for him and he'd like to avoid a rematch. Buzzkill is so not a murderous psychopath! Okay, maybe a little, but it's not her fault, that's just how Decepticons are! She just happens to enjoy it, is all. She also enjoys destroying things other people could use, as evidenced by her laughter as she completely obliterates whatever supplies First Aid managed to scrounge up. It's rare for Buzzkill to do something as ridiculous as laugh so you KNOW she must be having a grand ol' time. She replaces her pistol with her grenade launcher and finishes her reign of destruction with a well placed, highly explosive grenade that completely demolishes the rest of the pile. With that done, she turns her attention back to the noises she's been hearing, stepping over the debris of what used to be usable supplies and stalking through the piles of corpses, finger twitching on the trigger of her weapon. It doesn't take long for her to close in on First Aid, the Insecticon popping out from behind the rusting body of what could be described as some kind of robot elephant and putting herself between him and his destination.. "I /knew/ you were here. I could feel it.." A sick little grin overtakes her features as she steps closer, crushing a turbofox's ribcage into dust under her foot. "And you brought a little friend with you! How nice.." She doesn't attack him just yet, content with just teasing him with the fact she finally found him. First Aid's leg servos starts to grind with each step he takes, making him wonder if he might have twisted it when he sprinted back to Deft. He can hear destruction behind him and figures Buzzkill is going to be heading in his direction next. Should I set up an ambush? Hide behind something and then pop out once she flies past? First Aid had momentarily entertained the idea of hiding inside one of the piles of turbo-animal corpses until she went away, but didn't think he could do it without making a lot of noise. Just when First Aid is leaning towards the idea of setting up an ambush, the choice is suddenly snatched away from him. The doctor skids to a halt, almost dropping Deft off his shoulder by accident. Staring forward, he realizes he's been caught. Fight? Is that the only option? The Protectobot slowly lowers Deft off his shoulder, gently placing him on the ground. "Look, Buzzkill, maybe we can come to some sort of arrangement. All I want to do is get out of Decepticon territory." First Aid has no idea if she can be bargained with, but worse than that he has no idea what he could even offer. "An agreement?" Buzzkill seems amused by First Aid's words, lowering her weapon and stepping closer to him and the damaged comrade he places on the ground. "Interesting that you say that, I was going to suggest the same thing." She stares at the Autobot doctor with an almost hungry look. Hungry to actually eat him, as Insecticons are prone to do, or just hungry for his slaughter in general is hard to tell but she's definitely giving off some weird vibes. "As much as I would love to just crush your throat in my hands right now, as much as I'd love to tear you apart limb from limb at this very moment.. I will allow your offer of a little agreement." She looks down at Deft for a few moments before returning her gaze to First Aid. "Okay, this is what's going to happen. In exchange for letting you out of here alive, you will give me your little friend to do with as I please. If you refuse, then I'll kill you both. How's that for an agreement? I know I'm pleased with it." First Aid tries not to look frightened in the face of Buzzkill sizing up her next meal and/or victim, but if the Insecticon really *can* smell fear then she'll know better. The agreement to come to an arrangement is surprising, but First Aid doesn't get his hopes up. Beware Decepticons Speaking of Peace, or so the saying goes. When Buzzkill finally lays out the terms, the medic slowly looks down at Deft. The wounded pilot has slipped back into unconsciousness. Even his optics aren't shining anymore, but First Aid knows--/knows/--that if he can get him to an actual medical bay, Deft could make a full recovery. Aid would be lying if he didn't say there was a tiny niggling voice in the back of his head pointing out that without such a deal, *both* of them are likely going to die. Remarkably, that voice sounds similar to Deft's. But no, even if First Aid could trust Buzzkill, he wouldn't be able to live with himself. "I'm afraid that isn't possible. Autobots don't abandon one another. There must be some other deal you'd accept. I don't know, credits? Credits for our safety?" he asks with more than a little hint of desperation. If it were Swindle here First Aid would have a lot more confidence in this. Buzzkill's grin falters and is quickly replaced by her more characteristic frown when First Aid informs her that he wont be accepting her terms of agreement. Her frown only intensifies when he tries to bribe her with credits as if she could just be bought out. "I have no need for credits," she snaps, impatience strong in her tone. "Anything I want I can just take. You insult me with your pathetic offer!" She raises her weapon again, this time her standard issue pistol instead of her grenade launcher and press the barrel against the Autobot doctor's forhead. "Either take my original offer or make me a better one. Both of your lives depend on it." She taps the trigger of her pistol with a finger, threatening to blow him away at any time. "Maybe you should give me something I could actually use. Your arm looks rather tasty.." First Aid is unsurprised to say the least when Buzzkill rebuffs his offer. He didn't think she'd go for it, and now First Aid finds himself feeling the cold metal of her sidearm pressed against his forehead. Trying to back up as if this is going to help, First Aid tries to feebly push the barrel away with one hand, but his right leg chooses this moment to finally give out. Unable to support his weight, Aid's knee buckles, sending him crashing to the ground with a pained cry. Now laying awkwardly on the ground, First Aid keeps his one hand up. "W-wait, Buzzkill, let me just... ah, intel? The Autobot security codes for Retoris? I know them! I can get you inside the wall perimeter without any sentry even knowing!" First Aid never would have thought he'd stoop to such a low bluff, but terror makes for desperate solutions, and with his free hand First Aid reaches down towards his thigh. Fumbling, he misses his holster and snags his medkit instead. He can only hope that Buzzkill's attention is on his pleading and not his other hand. Acting on feel alone, he grabs a handful of whatever the first cyber-syringes he touches are and jams them into Buzzkill's foot. The syringes contain ultra-concentrated doses of energizers. If Buzzkill remembers her medicine training, she'll know they're designed to send a surge of energy through someone's system in order to jump start offline fuel pumps. Buzzkill allows herself a moment to laugh at First Aid's misfortune when his injured leg finally gives out and sends him flat on the ground. She keeps her gun locked on him, lowering her arm and pressing the barrel against the top of his head now. Maybe she should just shoot him now, it's not like she has any moral obligation not to. She considers it briefly until he offers her access to Retoris. Could he really have such codes, and would he really give them to her? "Interesting offer..." she muses, pulling her gun away. "I would have preferred if you just let me take that dead weight you've been dragging around." She glances at Deft and frowns. "But I'll take what I can get. Now.." She shoves her gun against him again, finger flexing on the trigger. "Start talking or I'll blow your head off! Give me those codes or face the cold embrace of death!" So focused is she on intimidating First Aid that she doesn't pay attention to what his other hand is doing, completely oblivious until she feels a sharp spike of pain shoot through her leg. She looks down at the syringe sticking out of her foot but by the time she recognizes it for what it is the effects have already taken hold. Having just had a delicious meal of defuct Insecticlones and spare Seeker parts, Buzzkill's systems are at full capacity, the sudden burst of energy actually making her feel sick and overloaded. She stumbles backwards, processors and fueling systems working overtime and causing her to feel nauseous and dizzy. "You sonofa-" She doesn't even get a chance to finish before she bends over and vomits, coating a turborabbit skeleton in a sticky, purple mess. First Aid doesn't even know what he jabbed into Buzzkill's foot at first. All he knows is that it took all of his strength to jam it through the armour plating. He tries to look down but instantly gets the gun barrel pressed against his head again. It isn't until the telltale sounds of an energy overload runs up her leg that he realizes what it was. His mind races as he tries first scrambles away from her, grabbing Deft's hand as he forces his leg to work. Energy overload... is that going to be enough to incapacitate her? Aid's heard of minibots who have died from using too many energizers, but Buzzkill is no mere broken down Empty. First Aid remembers all the calculations a doctor is supposed to perform before administering them. Buzzkill is probably around four thousand pounds, but Insecticon metabolism is three times the rate of a normal Cybertronian, but Buzzkill may have already been fully charged before chasing him, but anti-grav systems have been known to...-- were he in a nice quiet lab and not desperately limping across the most horrible place on Cybertron while terrified out of his wits, First Aid could probably figure it out. Deft doesn't move as First Aid drags him along, leaving the vomiting Insecticon alone. Please, please, please be unconscious, Buzzkill. He has no idea if Primus hears prayers but if there was ever a time for him to do so, this would be it. Deft's body grinds against the ground as he gets dragged, and finally First Aid works up the strength to get him back onto his shoulder as he hobbles away. Just have to get out of sight. Then I can patch my leg back up and make it to the Empty settlement. It takes a good four minutes for Buzzkill to completely empty her stomach seeing as how full it was. Half digested fingers and Insecticlone legs can be seen swimming around in the smelly concotion she hurls onto the ground. When she finally finishes, she spins around on her heel, leveling a nasty glare at the Protectobot as he makes his crippled escape. "You're not leaving here alive," she growls through vomit splattered teeth. She lifts her pistol and cracks off a few shots in a last ditch effort to stop First Aid. Goven her current state, it's safe to say that the chances of her actually hitting him are very slim. It would seem Primus has answered First Aid's prayers because as soon as she unloads her entire clip in the Protectobot's general direction, she's dragged into unconciousnes and falls to the ground in a heap, landing face first in a puddle of her own stomach contents and giving First Aid a chance to escape safely. Looking east, you see the Ruined Estates. A long time ago, the upper-class Cybertronians built their fancy homes on a gentle hill here, each trying to outdo the others in the size and elegance of their status symbols. These homes were thoroughly ransacked a long time ago, little left now but bare walls and scattered debris. Most of the high-society Cybertronians were easy prey for the Decepticons' attack; not knowing how to defend themselves few survived to fight back. All that's left to mark their existence are these houses, and despite the damage and neglect they are still beautiful, their graceful lines and sturdy architecture attesting to the artistic ability of that era, as well as the power of wealth. First Aid's hopes rise as a minute passes without Buzzkill shooting him in the back. Then two... three... four. Then his heart sinks as he hears the Insecticon growling. It didn't work! Laser fire streaks past him, with one of them clipping the side of his arm and causing him to cry out in pain. Without any other idea of what to do, First Aid keeps trying to run, stumbling across the corpse strewn landscape. It takes him a good thirty seconds before he realizes that most of the shots were far wide of his position, and another thirty for him to realize that the lasers have stopped. Knowing better than to get his hopes up--she could easily have taken to the skies to strafe him from above, or shrunk to tiny Insecticon mode to sneak up on him, or found a good sniping position to pick him off at her leisure--'First Aid' looks over his shoulder. There he sees Buzzkill laying on the ground, having succumbed to the energizer overdose. He stares in stunned silence. It might occur to someone might Blades to turn around and take advantage of the situation, but the thought never enters First Aid's head. His only thought is of running and hiding. Resuming his hobbling retreat, First Aid twists his arm so he can see the damage. A laser bolt pierced his shoulder, leaving a small smoking hole. If it had been his other shoulder, Deft's head would have been in the way. First Aid doesn't stop limping for another hour and a half, at which point he stops and sits, using a ruined wall to lean against. He hasn't seen a dead turbo-fox or robo-possum in the past half hour, and up ahead he can barely make out the old Ruined Estates. The ancient mansions are all empty shells now, but they'll still provide shelter and give First Aid a chance to see to his and Deft's injuries. He lost his medkit in the fight with Buzzkill, but maybe he can scrounge up some supplies from that Empty settlement--assuming it's still there. Anything is better than going back into the Graveyard.